VIDEO: Timelapse footage shows work to create giant new M1 bridges

Damien Lucas

A timelapse video showing huge steel beams being lifted into place over the M1 has been released by Highways England.

Some 38, 100-tonne beams were installed near Dunstable as part of a £162 million road project to boost Bedfordshire’s economy during March and April for a new junction 11A interchange bridge and new B579 Luton Road bridge as part of the A5-M1 Link scheme.

The award-winning project includes the building of a completely new dual carriageway linking the A5 to the M1, three new junctions including a new motorway junction, and six new bridges.

Delivering the scheme will unlock up to 40 hectares of land for businesses and provide the infrastructure for 7,000 homes to be built to the north of Houghton Regis. It will also provide better access to the M1 and reduce congestion in Dunstable.

“Lifting the beams for these two bridges was an important milestone for the A5-M1 Link Road project, which will offer motorists better and safer journeys and help reduce congestion through Dunstable as well as unlock land for new homes and businesses.

Lifting beams for two new bridges over the M1 as part of the A5-M1 Link scheme

“The two new bridges will be opened to traffic closer to the scheme completion in spring 2017.”

The A5-M1 Link project, a new, 2.8 mile dual carriageway to improve the east-west connection between the A5 and M1, north of Dunstable, will help reduce congestion through Dunstable town centre, offering motorists better journey time reliability and safer journeys.

Construction milestones achieved so far on the A5-M1 link include starting work on the layout for the new M1 junction 11A, with new roundabouts and bridges, as well as the rebuilding of the B579 Luton Road East and West to align it with junction 11A. Work on the link road itself has progressed well too, with drainage, fencing and some of the foundations and surfacing completed so far. And work on the new A5 roundabout has started too.

For the latest information and to register for updates about the A5-M1 Link scheme, visit the website.